Breath of Fresh Air
by Veronica Barton
Summary: Sydney's dream, between water and waking


I was inspired by the Lifehouse song "Breathing,"  
  
  
  
I own neither the show nor the song!  
  
  
  
[Lyrics will be in Italics, if you have a copy, try listening to it while reading!]  
  
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BREATH OF FRESH AIR  
  
  
  
Sydney watched in horror, as her lifesaver floated out of sight. She sat paralyzed trying to make sense of the madness. WHACK…blackness…breathlessness…  
  
[Song begins to play]  
  
  
  
Sydney could hear the singing of birds, feel the kisses of a light breeze and the warmth of the sun's golden fingers, trying to pry her eyelids open. Reluctantly, she gave into to their persistence.  
  
  
  
["Finding my way back to sanity again, though I don't really know what I am going to do when I get there…"]  
  
  
  
Feeling paralyzed, she allowed her eyes to take in her surroundings, and determined that she was lying on the bare ground in a cave of bushes, less than 100 yards away from a gravesite.  
  
  
  
Staring at the somber scene, she pushed herself up, and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to do physically what she feared she would be unable to do emotionally… stay in one piece.  
  
  
  
["Take a breath and hold on tight…"]  
  
  
  
Her worse fears came true as she saw and heard the next mourner stand to speak.  
  
  
  
["I am hanging on every word you say, and even if you don't want to speak tonight, it's alright, alright with me…"]  
  
"Michael Vaughn was my best friend… I wish I could say I was the same for him! He was like the brother I never had… maybe that's why I was so hard on him…"  
  
  
  
The rest of his speech was lost, as the words "Michael Vaughn" began to repeat over and over in her mind. It got louder and louder as the tears fell harder and harder.  
  
  
  
["I am looking past the shadows of my mind into the truth…"]  
  
  
  
She knew Weiss had betrayed Vaughn, but how could she judge? In a way she had too. He had been so much more than a best friend to her; he was her only and greatest source of truth. He had known her deepest darkest fears, and the evil that she was capable of, yet still believed in her, still had loved her, she knew he had.  
  
He was the one person in the world that actually had a reason to hate her, because of the blood she inherited. Their pain came from the same source.  
  
  
  
Perhaps that was their greatest fear; not the CIA's protocol, the SD-6 hitmen, not even Irina's evil plans, but rather that they seemed to share a soul, and knew that what would destroy one would destroy the other. So they guarded themselves, each their own hearts. They lied to themselves, saying it was a selfless attempt to protect the other. But it was themselves they were trying to protect, knowing that the survival of one depended on the survival of the other.  
  
  
  
["Let me feel one more time what it feels like to feel…"]  
  
  
  
It had begun; she could feel something gripping her heart, trying to squeeze the life out of it. She could feel the marrow being sucked out of her bones, as fresh tears flooded her already saturated face.  
  
  
  
She heard his name spoken once more by a "friend of the deceased", but her eyes were focused on Weiss as he walked to a woman seated in the middle of the crowd. His mother no doubt… she has his eyes, his smile, his absence of anything evil, and the presence of everything wonderful in the world.  
  
  
  
["Bet your tired of me waiting for the scraps to fall off your table…"]  
  
  
  
Exhausted, she rested her throbbing head on her knees, overwhelmed with feelings of shame, guilt, loneliness, and despair.  
  
  
  
When she lifted her head back up she was puzzled to see that night had fallen, and that the moon painted everything various shades of blue, black, and white; well, everything but a shiny brown box an the empty field.  
  
  
  
Floating, she got up and made her way to her new home, he was in there. Touching the top of the lid she slumped down to the ground and allowed the once silenced sobs to loudly echo from the emptiest caverns of her soul.  
  
  
  
She reached for her cell phone, in moments like these "when your at your worst, you've got my number…" She stopped and starred at the numbers on the phone, she knew by heart which ones to dial, and she knew that if she called he would be there to listen, even if they didn't talk, just to be in his presence had an amazing calming effect on her, just to hear him breathe.  
  
  
  
["Cause I want nothing more than to sit here at Heaven's door and listen to you breathe…"]  
  
  
  
She knew he would, if he could, but he can't. He can't because he doesn't have his cell phone with him, they took that and everything else away and stuck him in this lifeless box.  
  
  
  
She would give anything just to simply hear him breathe again, when she realized this she also realized that it was becoming increasingly hard to breath herself. Something was sucking all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere. She followed the force; it led to him, her oxygen was inside the box before her.  
  
  
  
Standing she began to kick at the clasps; she was like a mad woman on a mission, desperately trying not to panic, as her body began to scream for air.  
  
  
  
Time was running out, blackness was closing in around her, she tried to pull the lid off, but failed. She knelt down and pushed up with all her might, looking to the heavens for hope.  
  
  
  
She paused to gather all of her strength, "1,2,3…and up, up" up, she got it up! She let out the last of her air supply in a sigh of exhaustion, soon wishing she hadn't when she realized the coffin was empty.  
  
  
  
Both joy and panic filled her at the same time. Then out of know where came a breath of fresh air, and she gratefully gulped it in.  
  
  
  
Filled with mixed emotions, she sat stunned staring at the empty casket. Her breaths became steady and constant, and the world became very quiet; not a sound could be heard, except for breathing. Her own rhythm was joined by another, they made perfect harmony.  
  
  
  
["Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside Heaven's door, and listen to you breathing, that's where I want to be…"]  
  
  
  
She closed her eyes and smiled at the wonderful sound of… "Joey's Pizza?"  
  
  
  
When she opened her eyes she found herself chained to a chair, being served by Alexander Khanisnou.  
  
  
  
She wasn't sure of the future but she knew she would survive, because he had. He would breathe again and so would she!  
  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
